As you guys may remember from my review, I actually enjoyed "PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure." Sure, it has its drawbacks, but it's a fun little adventure for the short time it lasts. So, when I heard that a new "PokéPark" game was being released, known as "PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond," I was reasonably excited. Even though the reviews were less than stellar for this one, so too were the reviews of the first game, and I still walked away from that one quite happy. And ultimately, I walked away from this game even happier.
"PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond" retains many of the great things about the original game: the vibrant and colorful visuals, the simple but fun and accessible gameplay, and the appearance of a lot of different types of Pokémon. However, along with these things, this new adventure brought about some nice changes as well: the visuals have been polished up compared to the first game, as shown through the more detailed and smoother animations of the characters. The combat is also a bit better in that the Pokémon have brand new, more varied sets of attacks, the controls have been refined a bit to feel a lot less frustrating, and the story is quite different from the last entry. Don't let the colorful, vibrant artwork on the front cover fool you, this game's story is actually far more developed - and a bit darker than "PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure," making it even more interesting. And while the music in the first game was good and enjoyable, I actually found quite a few of the tracks in this game to be even better. It's clear this entry was far more polished than the last, and it's all the better for it.
There are a few minor flaws with this game, though: once again, it does get a bit repetitive, and the ending once again feels like it was built around the idea of padding. The game also isn't all that long - to the point where you may not find much reason to go back to it after one play - and the fact that there are fewer minigames this time around does hurt a little bit.
Even so, these are just minor flaws in a game that, surprisingly enough, actually feels like an improvement on its predecessor. "PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond" is a really enjoyable game and I definitely suggest giving it a play. It isn't the longest game in the world, but while it lasts, you should enjoy yourself with it. I sure did.
Final rating: 8 out of 10 "Great"